Some estimates indicate that fifty-six million (56,000,000) workers in the U.S. do not have a traditional banking relationship. This fact is driving increasing numbers of employers to assist their “unbanked” employees to establish financial partnerships through stored-value cards and other means. Additional benefits for employers may include the reduction of time and expense in distributing and administering paper checks for employees.
Certain financial institutions providing such stored-value accounts may allow customers to access funds with ATM cards. However, some States may require that employees be “paid to the penny” and, thus, ATM only options may impede an employer's ability to mandate such a payroll solution. Some financial institutions allow customers to write checks or create other negotiable instruments to access or otherwise draw funds from their stored-value accounts. This zero-cost approach may allow employers to mandate such payroll solutions.
However, existing check solutions are not widely accepted at merchants using point-of-sale devices to connect to check authorization services. This is due, in part, to the nontraditional nature of the instruments. In addition, existing solutions may require merchants to call a toll-free number and input information onto the check, and many merchants are, thus, resistant. Therefore, there exists a need in the art to enhance the negotiability and ease of use of checks and other financial instruments directly funded from stored value accounts.